Living With The Devil
by ASalvatoreSoul
Summary: AU Post 5x22: After being ready to face his death, Damon is sent to an unexpected place where he has to face a not so pleasant blast from the past
1. Chapter 1

**Enjoy and please read the author's note at the end of the last chapter.**

* * *

 _How am I alive?_ That's the question running through Damon's mind over and over again. The last thing he remembered was being on the other side, holding hands with Bonnie, waiting for certain death; he asked her if she thought it would hurt, and then it was like a blankness swallowed him whole. He blinked and was met with the familiar woods of Mystic Falls, not a soul in sight, not a heartbeat for miles. He decides against using his super speed, because he doesn't want to miss a single second of the landscape surrounding him, in case his eyes catch something familiar—or someone.

After walking for an hour around town searching for any trace of human life, he arrives at the boarding house and stares at the magnificent structure from outside, looking for any sight of his brother or Elena, but is met with nothing except gravel on the driveway, Elena's familiar car nowhere in sight, nor Jeremy's truck; hell, he would donate a liver for a reassuring glimpse of his baby brother's ugly and monstrous red car—some remnant of the world he knew.

Finally gathering the courage required, he opens the door and attunes his vampire senses to anything out of the ordinary, and finally, he hears it. A heartbeat, slow and fading, but a human heartbeat nonetheless; excited by his discovery and by the possibility of being greeted by his baby brother or Elena, he vamp speeds to the place where it is coming from, realizing only when he stops that he's now in his room. His hope grows stronger since his brother and Elena's annoying friends know better than to touch his bedroom; there's only one person who could be in his bedroom…Elena, his Elena. Maybe this wasn't hell after all. A thought strikes him; if Elena is here, that would mean she died with him, and with that thought, panic suddenly overwhelms him. He vamp speeds to his bathroom where he is met with none other than…Katherine Pierce, lying unconscious in his bathtub.

"You gotta be freaking kidding me…Hell it is." He muttered with disdain in his voice.

Damon leans closer to inspect Katherine's form. It's curious how he didn't mistake her for Elena, not even for a second. Even when she's sleeping, Katherine's facial expression is hardened, as if even when lost in her own dreams, her walls are still up. Elena's, however…her face is kind, her eyes hold a lightness that Katherine's never did, even when they're closed. He snaps out of his thoughts because of the ache he feels in his gut; it's only been a couple of hours and he already misses his girl like crazy. And speaking of his girl, he remembers everything the bitch lying in his bathtub did to her, and he feels his fist closing up in anger. She stole her body and almost got her killed with that virus, left a trail of mayhem behind her. It would be so easy to choke her…He can hear her heartbeat, so that means however she ended up there, she ended up as a human. No one would ever know. Suddenly, he shakes his head and relaxes his fist. This is not the man he is anymore, and even if the bitch did everything to make Elena's life miserable, she wouldn't support him killing anyone in her name, not under any circumstances.

He cursed himself out loud and bit his wrist, then put it over Katherine's mouth, her heartbeat almost non-existent, so he coaxed her head a little in order for her to drink his blood. Once he decided it was enough, he stood up and went back downstairs. He settles the couch in order to make it a decent place to sleep; there was no way he would be sleeping in his bedroom with that bitch in his bathtub and no chance in hell he would carry her out. He had already done more than enough by feeding her his blood. Her heartbeat was faint, so that meant she wasn't taking care of herself. He chuckled to himself trying to picture the great Katherine Pierce cooking scrambled eggs or any other food. _Who knows how long she had been in this place._ Deciding it was time to put his brain to sleep, he closed his eyes and pictured the woman he would fight heaven and hell if he had to, just to get back to her….Elena, and with that final thought, sleep finally reclaimed him.

The next morning, he was awakened by little things being thrown at him. He blinked once, then twice, trying to block whatever was landing in several parts of his face and chest; he finally opened his eyes and looked down to his chest where several little balls of bunched paper rested. He furrowed his brow, shook them off and then stood up, turning around to head for the kitchen, only to be greeted by his new reality leaning on a wall with her arms crossed, attempting to showcase her cleavage.

"Did you miss me?" said a playful Katherine Pierce with a Cheshire cat grin.

Damon groaned, "I liked you better when you were half dying and unconscious."

She pouted and eased closer to where he stood.

"Oh come on, Damon, don't tell me you didn't miss me. I've been losing my mind here all by myself the last weeks. I finally get a roommate, and what a roommate," she said, shamelessly running her eyes over from top to bottom, scanning every visible inch of his body, making Damon roll his eyes to the back of his head, which brought his awareness to yet another paper ball in the back of his neck. He stretched his arm to get it, and then threw it to the floor.

"Did you seriously wake me up by throwing a bunch of paper balls at me?"

Katherine pouts again and does her best effort to look cute, "What? I was bored. You were good enough to save my life, but not gentleman-y enough to carry me out of that uncomfortable bathtub. Very poor manners, Mr. Salvatore. Color me shocked when I woke up and realized I wasn't dead. Oh no, instead, I had blood on the corners of my mouth…And Lover, I might be human, but I can still recognize the taste of your blood anywhere."

Damon sensed this conversation wouldn't be short, nor would he want it to be. He needs answers after all, answers maybe only Katherine can provide, so he sits down on the couch again and motions her to do the same on the opposite one.

"So, tell me, Katherine. How on earth did you end up here?"

Katherine leans back in her seat and contemplates the possibility of toying with his patience for a while longer, but she didn't lie when she said she almost lost her mind. She's been craving for contact since she got to this place, and now that she got her wish, she'll have to play nice with Damon, at least for a while. She was Katherine Pierce, afterall, queen of mind games. She feels herself getting excited with the idea of sharing the house with Damon, unable to suppress a playful smile.

"Would you believe me if I told you I don't know? The last thing I remember was that pesky little witch doing something to drag me in that church. I felt myself being swallowed down by a…darkness, and then I woke up here, on the outskirts of town. At first, I thought the elusive Katherine Pierce had avoided death yet again, but then I started walking, and after a few minutes, I noticed my unusual shortness of breath, and I realized I was still a human, tragically." She paused and looked up to the ceiling, addressing whatever powers that be, "Thanks for that, by the way." She scoffed and continued with her story, "Anyway, I knocked on houses, visited all of the so-called hot spots in Mystic Falls, hoping to find…someone, but it was like a ghost town. I even went to Elena's house. I had read a paper, and that's how I deduced I was stuck in 1994. I suppose I found amusement in the idea of the Gilberts taking a poor orphan into their home without having a clue that the baby girl in their arms would grow to look exactly like her. Don't look so hopeful, though. No such luck. Like I said, ghost town."

Damon nods to himself, processing the information and noticing that everything Katherine is saying rings true, since he checked the town himself, as well.

"And how did you end up half dead in my bathtub? Was Saint Stefan's room occupied by squirrels?"

"I survived a couple of months by stealing food from the super market, all junk food though." She makes a sound of disgust. "Being on the run for so many years with the compulsion powers at my disposal meant that I never found myself in need of learning such mundane tasks like cooking, so yeah, basically I survived off the frozen stuff."

"Well, obviously you didn't eat healthy enough if your body gave up on you."

Katherine suddenly gets a panicked look that she manages to mask quickly enough, but not before Damon's watchful eyes notice; he makes a mental note to figure out what was really going on later.

"Yes, I guess I was careless," She said in a clipped tone, signaling to him that all attempts of conversation were over.

Damon shrugged, stood up and put on his leather jacket.

"Wait, where are you going?" She asked with a slight quiver in her voice, unnoticeable to regular people, but not to Damon.

"I am going to get some blood bags. If there are no people, I have to survive off something, and even if that's usually not my diet of choice, it'll have to do for now."

"Well, Damon, seems like we're stuck together," She says, raising an eyebrow.

"I guess so. The only proof I needed that this is, in fact, Hell," He says with a mocking tone and sardonic smile.

Katherine pouts and starts walking toward him while swaying her hips, stopping only when she is inches away from his face.

"Aw, don't be like that. We're gonna have so much fun," She says with a smile as her index finger plays around with the collar of his jacket.

Damon groans, frowning at her, and snaps her finger away from him almost violently to later open the door and vamp speed away from her, far enough that he does not hear the throaty chuckle that escaped her lips.

* * *

Katherine walks in on Damon, humming an annoying song while he heats up his blood in the microwave, and she groans knowing what awaits her for breakfast.

For the last three weeks, Damon had been making a weekly visit to the blood bank and to the supermarket to get human food for her, except what he was getting wasn't food at all; she was certain he had an evil plan of making her fat. He was only bringing her trans-fat junk food that tasted like rubber, because, oh yes, on top of everything, it was frozen food. Last week, he had gotten her frozen pizzas for all seven days of the week, claiming she needed some meat on those bones. This week, he might as well have worn a McDonald's uniform, because he had gotten her frozen hamburgers that tasted like feet and some really unimpressive French fries. Katherine couldn't believe that she was living with an Italian who refused to cook her real food. She was starting to get cranky; that bastard was testing her, and she would not put up with it any longer.

Damon heard the sound of the microwave that indicated his breakfast was ready and made a move to open the thing when a hand snapped it back shut.

"What do you want, Katherine?" He asked with a tired expression on his face, rolling his eyes, "If what you wanted was to piss me off, mission accomplished. Now, please keep your hand away from my O-negative. You know fragile little humans don't get blood."

Katherine merely glared at him, not making a single action to remove her hand from the microwave that separated Damon Salvatore and his breakfast.

"You're not getting your breakfast until I get mine."

Damon smiled tightly at her, "Well that can be arranged. If you walk five steps behind you, you will locate the fridge. You just open that, and take out the goods I've so generously gotten for you."

"Goods? Damon those aren't goods!" – She exclaims, losing her temper, which was noticeable, because her voice went up a few octaves – "Those are a heart attack waiting to happen! I can't keep eating that stuff. I am human now and I can get fat!"

Damon is enjoying this far too much. He would never admit it to anyone, and maybe it was petty, but he didn't really care. Amusement was rare these days living in a frozen 1994 and all, so he would take some entertainment in any way he could; that included making Katherine Pierce lose her figure and watching her have a breakdown over it. She had always used said figure to drive men insane. Oh yes, that vixen knew just the right way to use her body, and she knew she had a killer figure, so she took advantage of that. He wasn't planning to feed her forever with frozen food, just until she would gain a few pounds and had a spectacular breakdown over it or she put her pride aside and begged him for real food, whichever happened first. Following that train of thought, his eyes were pulled to her hips, and he smirked, because it seemed like his plan had played off already.

"Well, well," He says, walking toward her till he gets inches away from Katherine's body, running his finger teasingly over her hip. "Seems like those frozen pizzas are getting to you. Tell me, Kitty Kat, you haven't felt those tight jeans even tighter have you?

He pouted mockingly at her, and then the impossible happened. Katherine Pierce actually blushed; it was just a slight tone of pale pink adorning her cheeks that might have gone unnoticed to any human, but he was a vampire. He could smell and feel Katherine's blood gathering in her cheeks; as soon as Katherine felt the blush, though, she practically ran to the opposite side of the room and put her hands over her head, attempting to control her traitorous body.

"Ugh, how I freaking hate being human!" She muttered, grinding her teeth. Damon had to literally hold back a chuckle. _Oh, how the mighty have fallen._

"You are an ass, Damon, you know that?"

"Old news, Honey," He says with a scoff and dismissive movement of his right hand.

"Fine, you win. What do I have to do to get some real food? I can't afford to lose my figure, Damon. I refuse to exercise and get all sweaty and gross. Tell me what you want and I'll do it," She says, crossing her arms over her chest.

Damon puts his index finger on his chin and pretends to give some thought to Katherine's proposal. Of course, he already knows what he wants. Katherine had been nothing but a pest since he got to 1994. She did nothing but complain all day every day, and if she wasn't complaining about the horrible grunge fashion of the 90s, she was complaining about the lack of modern electronic devices, and if she wasn't complaining about that, she was complaining about the fact that Damon used to be more fun; it was exhausting to live with her, and if you added the fact that she never lifted a finger to do house chores, Damon was losing his mind. He knew exactly what he wanted from her.

"Well, that's a very tempting offer Katherine. Let's see," He pretends to keep thinking just to torture her a little bit longer, and when he sees her uncrossing her arms to glare at him even harder, he smirks and decides it's time. He really couldn't wait to see her face reacting to his end of the bargain. "I want you, Katherine Pierce, to do the laundry, for both of us."

Time stood still for Katherine as she tried to picture herself doing… _laundry_. Even the word sent a shiver down her spine. She had never in her life done laundry, not even when she was human, always managed to charm some dumb weak girl or boy into doing it for her. She simply could not imagine it, and yet, she knew Damon was serious. He had been feeding her junk food for three weeks, and her smoking hot body was starting to pay the toll for that. She supposed she had to play nice with him if she wanted him to cook the delicious food she knew he was capable of doing.

Katherine Pierce never hated herself more than in that moment, when she almost imperceptibly nodded her head and muttered a curt "Fine."

"I am sorry, I didn't hear you, what?"

"I said fine dammit! Don't push it, Salvatore!" She screamed while grinding her teeth.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Pierce," He says with his most charming smile. "What would you like today then?" He asks while he makes his way to the cupboard to collect the ingredients.

"How about a delicious French omelet?" She asks with the flirtiest smile she could pull off.

He made a *tsk tsk* sound and then pulled out a bread from the cupboard. "Sorry, don't have any of that here. French toast is what I can offer."

Katherine groaned and almost stomped her feet, but refrained from doing so.

"Fine, fine! French toast, just get to cooking, Salvatore."

"With pleasure, Miss Pierce," He says in a softer, yet mocking tone, imitating the boy he was back in 1864 when he met her. She, of course, caught onto that immediately and gave him a smile—a real one. Except, he was too busy cooking with his back to her, and he didn't notice; she was relieved for that.


	2. Chapter 2

It's been almost two months since Damon has been trapped in this place, trying every day to find a way to return home, to Elena. He has been living his own personal Hell, without her. He couldn't be trapped with another person, but Katherine Pierce? He'd rather be trapped with the boring quarterback than her. His only wish was to be alone, lost in his thoughts of a future with Elena. He remembers with a smile her own words, "Do you see a future with me? Because that's all I see." The thought alone causes Damon's heart to ache with pain. Not a single day has passed that he didn't miss her. He couldn't wait until he could have her in his arms again.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Damon enters his room only to be greeted by Katherine, this time lying on his bed totally naked, with a playful smile on her lips.

Damon lets out a growl, moving his head in annoyance.

"You gotta be kidding me. I thought we were past this. Don't you ever get tired of all the times I rejected you? Or do I need to remind you that time you were in my shower and it did nothing for me?"

Katherine's smile only widens, ignoring the rest of Damon's words. "Oh, so you do remember?"

Ignoring the remark, Damon gestures for her to leave his bedroom. "I'm tired, Katherine. I think it's past bedtime for a woman your age."

"Ouch," Katherine says, pouting, pretending to be hurt. "Come on, Damon, don't be so grumpy. Who knows how much time we will stay here together. Why not take advantage of the fact that we're alone and we can enjoy each other's company?"

"Thanks, but no. I'd rather use my own hand." The mockery in his tone is evident, starting to make Katherine annoyed. But she is not going without a fight; she is Katherine Pierce, afterall. There are more tactics she could use. Thinking about how much he used to rock her world, she feels aroused almost instantly. Pulling herself out of his bed, she starts a sensual and slow walk, moving her hips with every step, coming closer to him. Damon can't help but notice how hardened her nipples are while she makes her way toward him. Katherine adverted when Damon lowered his gaze and congratulated herself. Even if it was a quick peak, Katherine knows it wasn't in her imagination. She knows that Damon is a man afterall, and she can take advantage of that.

Closing the distance, Katherine´s breasts makes contact with his chest. She can fell his body tense in response. Encircling his neck with her hands, she whispers into his ear in a seductive voice, "Do you remember how good we were in bed? Trying to stay celibate while waiting to return to Elena must be so hard." Damon then puts his hand on Katherine's waist, taking her by surprise, and starts a torturous way, going from her waist, pausing a second near her breast, making Katherine hold her breath in anticipation, to end on her shoulder, only to remove her hands from his neck, and he pulls her away of him. "Nice try, Katherine, but if I could wait 50 years for you, and I didn't love you even half as much as I love Elena, I sure as hell can wait all the time in the world until I find my way back to her."

Without looking back, he makes his way to his bed. "Don't forget to close the door on your way out."

With his back to her, Katherine's seductive smile is no longer on her face. Being rejected once again, Katherine doesn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing how much it bothered her. Pulling herself together, she leaves, not without telling him before, "Your loss, Salvatore. Maybe Elena won't wait for you the same way," then closes the door behind her.

* * *

Later that night, Katherine was pacing in her room, wearing nothing but lace panties without a bra, still bothered. _How dare he reject her?_ Other men would be down on their feet trying to please her. With that in mind, she decides to put plan B into motion, going to his bedroom for the second time that night. The house was too quiet, which meant Damon must be sleeping by now. Opening his door, she's glad to be proven right. He is sleeping peacefully in his bed, without a care in the world. Walking stealthily, until she's in front of his bed, she slips the sheets down his body carefully. He's wearing old pants, in contrast to when he used to sleep naked in the past. _This is not my Damon_ , she almost says out loud. Sensing a movement in the bed, she holds her breath, thinking that she probably woke him, not being discrete enough. But glancing at him, she can see that he's still sleeping deeply, murmuring Elena's name in his dreams. Rolling her eyes because her doppelganger can't leave her alone, not even in this world, she thinks that maybe this time Elena can actually be useful for a change.

Climbing on top of him, with her legs at each side of his body, Katherine runs her finger down his torso, and places a kiss on his chest, causing him to tremble, and he murmurs Elena's name again. Being in this position, she is reminded of all the times she used to be on top, riding him back at 1864. Those were good times. He'd let her have her way, with his astonished look, being completely at her mercy, secretly loving her dominance in bed. Wanting to feel his hands over her body, she places his hands on her breasts. Damon's body unconsciously acts in response, cupping her breasts, twisting her nipples until she feels them hardened under his touch, making Katherine arch her back. She can also feel his member growing up near her core, tempting her to ride him, but she restrains herself. She would never do that. Katherine knew she can have any man she wants, only that with Damon, she needed to work harder. Her plan consisted of making him aroused enough so when she wakes him, he's the one who won't be able to stop himself from giving in and satisfying them both. Damon's hands were still playing with her nipples, stimulating them, when Katherine lowers her face to kiss his neck, making Damon's mouth travel to trap her earlobe, his hot breath brushing against the back of her neck, making her want more. Katherine angles her body upwards so Damon's mouth that's currently sucking her earlobe can easily find her right nipple. With his firm hands now on her waist, pulling her closer to him, Damon's mouth starts to suck Katherine's nipple, and she writhes while clutching the sheets. The things this man can do with his tongue were too much for her already sensitive nipple. Closing her eyes, forcing herself to contain the moan that is threatening to erupt from within her, Damon continues with the delicious torture, sending a wave of pleasure throughout her body. Unable to hold it in any longer, a powerful moan escapes her lips, abruptly making Damon stop the movement of his mouth, waking up to realize what he is doing. His expression suddenly changes. His features harden, and he's about to snap. The fury radiates through his body. He almost throws Katherine out of the bed in his attempt to get away from her. Trying to calm himself down from the anger he is feeling, "Out. Get out of my bedroom before I completely forget that I'm a better man, and I kill you with my bare hands," he barks. Katherine, with the fear visible in her eyes, almost runs away from his bedroom for the last time.

* * *

Weeks after the incident in Damon's bedroom, he was still giving her the silent treatment, acting as if she didn't exist and he was truly living alone in the Boarding House. It was getting on her nerves, especially after all the time she spent on her own, with no one to speak. Katherine was lucky that he didn't send her out of the house, probably because he was rarely in the house nowadays. He knew how much she was craving for contact after she came here, and he was punishing her, driving her insane. The next morning after that night when he almost killed her for what she did, he started a routine. Early in the morning, he left the house, leaving her bored to death, and returned at the time when she was going to bed. On the rare occasions he was in the house, he acted as if she was invisible. After their agreement of her doing the laundry and Damon making her breakfast, she was getting used to his skills in the kitchen. Now the agreement was forgotten and she had to go back to getting her own junk food. The house was back to the maddening silence, and she was already losing it.

Unable to keep living like this anymore, Katherine decided that her situation had to change somehow, starting that day. That's why she found herself in her bedroom, getting ready for the day, earlier than usual, when she heard him downstairs and went in his direction before he left the house. Today was the day to make amends. Like every day, Damon pretended that she wasn't there and directed his steps to the door, but Katherine followed him. Leading toward his Camaro, Damon stopped in his tracks when he realized Katherine was planning to go with him. Annoyed by her presence, Damon decided that this morning he didn't need his Camaro after all. If Katherine didn't want to leave him alone, he would make her regret wanting to come with him in the first place. _She was human now, and soon, Miss Hell-in-heels would be tired of walking_ , he thought to himself, amused.

Nothing was going according to Katherine's plan. It didn't make any difference that she followed Damon. He was ignoring every attempt at conversation she was trying to initiate. After a couple of hours, Katherine felt as though she had been walking for years; the sun burning her skin, the sweat running down her neck, her throat dry, her clothes clinging to her already sweaty body, the heels killing her feet. Her human body was not resistant enough. Oh, how she missed her old vampire body. She hated being a weak human. She hated that Damon had the upper hand. She needed water before passing out, but she didn't want to give Damon the satisfaction of knowing how badly this situation was getting to her. Katherine knew he didn't take his Camaro on purpose, only to see her miserable, suffering the pain of a common mortal.

He had thought he would be bored with Katherine's incessant complaining, but Damon found himself entertained with the whole situation. Hearing her trying to breathe with difficulty, her steps becoming slower with each passing hour, and the little sounds of exasperation emitting from her sore throat was priceless. On more than one occasion, she almost fell on the ground, trying to keep his pace, making Damon chuckle. Served her right after the bitch's embarrassing attempt to make him lust for her. He was still coming to terms, trying to convince himself that he hadn't cheated on Elena. Every day he was torturing himself with thoughts of how he had Katherine's nipple in his mouth, feeling sick to his stomach that he allowed this to happen, even if he was sleeping, dreaming about Elena instead, completely unaware of what was occurring in the world of the living.

Snapping back to reality, they were soon greeted by a known landmark to them both. The Gilbert House. After deciding that he needed to be far away from Katherine before he choked her to death, Damon had started coming here every day, so he could feel closer to the familiar, to Elena. Being in the house that witnessed so many moments between them was what ultimately kept him going. The kitchen that witnessed the time when an Elena who barely knew him surprised Damon with the empathy behind her words, "You lost her, too;" the bedroom that witnessed the moment she hated him, to the moment where her mind was clear and she was finally ready to begin a new chapter in her life, with him at her side; the porch that witnessed their first kiss. So many meaningful memories that were still vivid in his mind, giving him the strength to not give up, to maintain the hope of being reunited with the love of his life again.

"What are we doing here?" asked Katherine, still not accepting the hint that he was ignoring her.

Taking the first steps up the stairs of the porch after him, she suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu. "Do you remember when we were on this same porch, after you saved the city?"

"What are you trying to do Katherine?" With the irritability clear in his voice, Damon finally breaks his silent treatment.

Not wanting to provoke him now that he was finally speaking to her again, Katherine kept the satisfaction of how amusing it was that he finally talked to her after she attempted going down memory lane to herself.

"Just wondering if you remembered. We never talked about that moment," said Katherine, lowering her voice, knowing that Damon would hear her anyway.

"What's there to talk about? I thought you were Elena. End of story."

Katherine frowned and sent a hard glance in his direction, but ignoring his statement, she continued, "I was back in Mystic Falls, and that night I had my mind occupied with my plan of taking revenge on this town, and then I found you here, in this same spot. You can imagine my surprise when we were face to face, after keeping an eye on you over the years without you knowing. You had no idea of the struggle inside me, wanting to reach out and kiss you after we were separated for 145 years."

Letting out a growl in frustration, Damon turned his back, until he was in front of her, both standing in the same spot where they shared a kiss without him realizing it was Katherine, not Elena.

"I still don't see why this matters now."

Cocking an eyebrow, Katherine tried to make him understand how it was that night for her. "Why does it matter? Because the night I was opening up to you about all the times I was so close to you, and yet, so far, I didn't have the chance to talk about this. So, you can see and understand that I'm not the evil you want me to be. I do have a heart, believe it or not, Damon."

Damon remains silent. Not wanting to hear her version of that moment, but out of curiosity, he motions for her to continue.

Before allowing Damon the chance to change his mind, she lets her walls down, remembering that night all too well and starts opening up to Damon once again. "That night, I had to keep my façade of being Elena up, because it was too soon for you to know that I was back. It wasn't the right time yet. So I took the opportunity to pretend to be her in front of your eyes. I can't deny it hurt, Damon." Leaving Damon speechless by her last words, wondering why that was a painful moment for her. "After years of seeing you without your humanity, I was surprised to find a better version of you, and it brought to my mind memories of the old Damon. The human Damon from 1864. My sweet and innocent Damon," she said with a dreamy look and a genuine smile on her face. "I was trying to suppress the turmoil I was feeling. You were so gentle and sweet with me that I almost forgot for a moment that I was supposed to be Elena for you." Her expression turned into one of jealousy, but was then replaced by one of pain, "It hurt seeing you displaying your affections to someone else. You were trying to be so gentle with Elena, giving me a tender kiss on the cheek, leaving me surprised again, and then I allowed you to kiss me in your sweet and passionate way, waking feelings in me that I tried to keep locked away in order to ensure my survival. I didn't know how much I missed you, until then. After that, I was too resentful over being replaced by my doppelganger, and I had to convince you and even myself, that I never loved you; it was easier that way. Now you know that there's a side of me that I only showed to you, and that I'm not the monster you think I am," she says, staring at Damon, her features softened after traveling down memory lane, sharing everything she felt in that moment.

Damon, seeing the truth in her eyes, confirming again that she did love him, smiles at her for the first time they've been trapped together. "I appreciate that you decided to share this with me. Even if doesn't change the past or the future, because I'm in love with Elena, but now I can see there's more than meets the eye," he says, winking at her, trying to change the atmosphere of their conversation.

Sensing that their moment was gone, but still grateful that he believed her, Katherine raised her walls up once again. "I'm a box full of surprises, Salvatore," she says with a devious smirk. And just like that, everything was back to normal with them. Normal, in the unconventional and dysfunctional dynamic they have.

* * *

"Elena, it's been 5 months in this place, and every day I feel myself dying a little bit more; not seeing your face, not hearing your laugh, not touching you? That's Hell. If I had known that day when we succumbed to passion in our house would be the last, I would've never let you go. We had Jeremy's parent-teacher conference, but I wouldn't have let you out of our bed until you admitted out loud that we weren't a mistake, and we never would be. There are so many things that I wish I had done differently. You know me more than anyone, Elena; you know that I never look back; you know that I try my best every single day to not feel remorse for the actions that I've done, and yet, I find myself rewinding every moment I spent with you, thinking about the things I could've done to keep us together longer, or how I could've tried to be a better man earlier on. I just wish we could've had more…time."

Damon feels himself choking up, and his vampire hearing catches Katherine entering the living room, so he snaps the old video camera shut and shoves it down the couch quickly before Katherine can see it.

"What are you doing?" She asked without fail, suspicious of his weird behavior, she might not be a vampire anymore, but she was still excellent at reading body language, and judging by the barely visible redness in Damon's eyes, as well as his rigid posture, he was doing something he definitely didn't want her to see. _Interesting_.

"Nothing that concerns you, Kitty Kat. I was actually heading outside to walk the dog."

"We don't have a dog."

"Oh, right! It's a bitch that lives in my house." – He mockingly stated, wiggling his eyebrows, but Katherine just rolled her eyes and walked away, not without making herself the promise of discovering whatever Damon was hiding from her, though.

A whole week had passed and Katherine had yet to catch Damon doing something "embarrassing." All he did all day was mope around the Gilbert House, sit in his room, do house chores and look through his old music collection. The guy was pretty boring to be quite honest; this was definitely not the Damon she remembered. It seemed like her little annoying doppelgänger had managed to not only tame the eldest Salvatore, but also make him duller than watching paint dry. It was such a shame really that he had lost that edge that made him so…intriguing. She was currently hiding behind a wall in the foyer, spying on whatever he was doing in the living room, but she was severely disappointed when he did nothing except pour himself a nice glass of bourbon and sit on his couch to drink it.

Damon laughed on the inside at yet another pathetic attempt by Katherine to spy on him. Did she honestly forget she was human and he was a vampire? He knew she was following him. What he didn't understand was the _why_. Was she really that bored? Or was this another one of her mind games? He felt himself closing his fist in anger, remembering when she snuck up into his bedroom to entice him, fool him into believing she was Elena. It seemed like she had gotten the silent treatment message loud and clear, though, because she hadn't tried anything like it again, and just in case, he always locked his door after that day. He licked the bourbon that had escaped from his glass onto the corner of his mouth and sat the glass down on the table, suddenly getting a flash of that time Elena made him play a stupid board game she claimed she used to play all the time with her family. He didn't understand her fascination with it. To him, it was a boring human game, but he would never tell her that, because that night she smiled like he'd never seen her smile before. It was a nostalgic smile, but with the faintest hint of peacefulness. Damon had realized over the years he'd known her that she had a very particular smile for every emotion, and yet, that night was the first night he witnessed that one. God, how he missed her; he missed everything about Elena, even the traits that annoyed him the most. He would give his right arm to see her wet towel lying on the floor of the bathroom right now, or her many bracelets and necklaces strewn in every corner of his room, but this house he was living in wasn't the house he lived in with Elena; this house no longer felt like _home_.

He snapped out of his thoughts and decided it was time to make another video diary; for the past month, every time he felt like he was going insane, he would record a video diary entry of sorts dedicated to Elena, to his brother, hell, even to Alaric and the kids, as he liked to call Elena's friends. An old video recorder had come in handy to him, but of course, he was doing all of this behind Katherine's back. This was his business and his alone; she didn't need to know about his private thoughts or feelings, and with that in mind, he reached out underneath the cushions of the couch to pull out the video recorder.

But this time, Damon wasn't as concentrated, or he would've known that Katherine was hidden behind a door in the kitchen. She had opened the water tap on the sink to mask her breathing, and she had also left the music in her room playing to fool Damon into thinking she was there. She knew it was a long shot, but she was praying that apart from her tricks, he was distracted enough to not notice her breathing in the kitchen.

Damon opened the video camera without even look around. "You know something funny, Elena? When I first got here, I thought I'd find you, and I prayed that I wouldn't, because I thought I was dead and that would mean you had died along with me. Now, I know this makes me selfish as hell, but I find myself wishing you were here, even for just a second, seeing your doe eyes and touching your silky brown hair would be enough to give me the strength to carry on, Elena, because without you? Everything is darkness, just seeing your face again would make everything right." Damon kept talking about how much he missed Elena, and Katherine had to repress the urge to puke right there, so this was what he'd been doing behind her back. It seemed like he wasn't enjoying her company much, and she tried to push the hurt aside, but it managed to find a way in anyway. She wasn't delusional; she knew Damon would rather be anywhere else than there, and she knew he would exchange her for Elena in a second. Yet, the past few weeks had been really good. They had reclaimed that banter that characterized their relationship when he was still human. She was even having fun, such an alien concept for her when it didn't involve mind games, but it was the truth, and she felt a little betrayed that Damon would rather talk to an old recorder than her. He knew those tapes would never make it to Elena's hands, or Stefan's or anyone but hers really. Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind. She remembered how she used to punish him quite literally, both in bed and outside of it, as well, when he did something she did not like. She wondered just how much he would miss those tapes. She wondered if she made the stupid little device disappear, if he would finally talk to her. And with a smile on her face, Katherine Pierce set in motion her next plan.

* * *

The next day, Katherine waited until Damon was out of the house to start her next plan. She was about to entertain herself, since Damon was being nostalgic missing Elena and not paying attention to her these past few days. _All the fun she will have ruining his pathetic, lame recording to his precious Elena_ , she thought to herself with a devious smile. Katherine couldn't deny that she'd like to be the receiver at the end of Damon's love and devotion, not that she'd admit that to Damon. Katherine was hurt, if she was being honest with herself. With the jealousy, hurt and betrayal getting the best of her, she stood up from her bed, and then headed downstairs to the place she discovered Damon was hiding the video recorder. After last night, she suspected he'd change the hiding place, in case she spied and discovered it. _Did he really think she would never find it hidden in one of the cabinets in the kitchen? Always hiding things in the most obvious places. Did he really think that she'd never search there?_ The fact that she knew he'd do something like this, thinking it was the last place where she would look, just proved how much she still knows him.

With the recorder finally in her hands, Katherine let out a satisfied smile. "Game on, Damon," she mutters out of joy. She's almost jumping like a kid on Christmas, after getting a big amount of presents. Heading toward the same couch where Damon was seated the previous night, she accommodates herself, taking a seat, propping the video recorder on the table in front of her and setting it at the exact time Damon recorded his boring speech for Elena. Twisting Damon's words, she began her own speech. "Elena, it's been 5 months since Damon and I have been stuck together in this place, and every day we find new ways to keep each other… _occupied_. Knowing how he's seeing your face in me, how it's a turn on for him when he hears my seductive voice every time I want to tempt him, touching him at every opportunity I have the chance to get my hands on him, has been like living in heaven. There are so many things he wishes he had done differently, trying his best every single day to stay loyal to you, and yet, succumbing to the inevitable passion consuming us."

Then, pressing the stop button, the satisfied smile appearing on her face again, she can't think of a better way than this to punish Damon for being like a dog on Elena's leash. After longing for Elena for months, he recorded himself every day with the hope that one day she could see it. He poured his heart out, telling her how much he wished she was there, and Katherine managed to ruin it in the worst way possible in just a matter of seconds, making fun of his deep words that were never destined for her, she thinks with bitterness. _What happened to the Damon who loved her? What happened to the Damon who was obsessed with her? What happened to the Damon who lived for her?_ It hurt being replaced by another woman, and with the same face. Damon went from being the brother who loved her too much to the man who didn't love her enough, like Stefan. Or worse, the man that doesn't love her anymore.

Leaving her thoughts aside, Katherine decides to give a final touch to her work of art. Pressing the play button again, she continues, "Hello, Damon, it's me. I was wondering if after all this time you would stop being a whipped fool." The amusement is clear in her playful tone. "Don't be too mad because your speech is gone," she says, pouting while playing with her hair. "In fact, you should be thanking me because if anything, I improved it. Who knows, I may have actually helped Elena to see that you're not a better man after all, making that realization come sooner rather than later, sparing both of you the mere prolonging of a doomed relationship." Pretending to be sad for him, she shrugs her shoulders, and then a seductive smile comes to play. "But we can still have fun together." Standing on her feet, and winking at the camera, she starts to dance without music, moving her hips, putting on a show, not noticing the vampire behind her with a murderous expression on his face.


	3. Chapter 3

Having too much fun for the first time in days, Katherine continued dancing, until she turned around and almost had a heart attack at the sight of Damon, standing mere inches in front of her, with his arms crossed over his chest, his posture rigid, and a similar expression to the one he had when she was in his bedroom. Furious can't ever describe how he was. Katherine stopped dancing altogether, the color practically draining from her face, with her heart pounding through her chest. She was not one to fear anyone, but her situation was delicate now. She was human, and he was a vampire, an angry vampire by the way, very close to murdering her in that moment. He was still standing in the same spot, his expression turning more violent with passing seconds. The atmosphere in the living room was almost unbearable. No one was speaking. The only sound in the house was Katherine's accelerated heartbeats and her labored breathing.

It happened in the blink of an eye. One second, they were having a silent battle of fury against fear, and the next second, Damon used his vamp speed to pin her to the wall, his hand on her neck, choking her, cutting off her air pathway.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now, Katherine," Damon yells at her, almost shaking.

"You're hur-hurting me, Damon."

"The recording I did was the one thing keeping me sane in this hell where I'm living. Do you have any idea of how much it meant to me? That by letting out those feelings, I was able to hold it together? That and the fact I visited the Gilbert House every single day, was what kept me going, because it allowed me to being closer to Elena, dammit." His hands pushing harder against an already pale Katherine.

"I-can't-bre-athe."

Ignoring her efforts for survival, Damon continued strangling her. He wanted to make her pay for every minute she made him miserable while being in this place. "Of course you don't have any idea, because you don't think of anyone but yourself!"

"Elena. Don't kill-me. E-le-na wouldn't wan-want t-h-i-s," Are the only words Katherine can manage to let out.

Katherine's reminder is what finally makes Damon snap, slowly setting her free from his grip. Coughing violently, with one hand on a table for support, the other on her throat, trying to stop the pain she was suffering, she glanced hard at Damon, with venom in her eyes. "You almost got me killed."

"That was the purpose of me choking you," said Damon from the other side of the room, still trying to control his temper. "Why in the hell did you do it?"

"I was bored," said Katherine nonchalantly, still pissed at Damon.

"Don't test my patience, Katherine. Since I came here, all that you've been doing is testing me, sending me over the edge, turning my life into a living hell. I'd rather be stuck here with boring Donovan than with you."

Letting out a bitter smile, Katherine throws back at him, "You are talking to me about boring? Pfft Matt Donovan can teach you one or two lessons about how to be less boring. You are not the Damon I met. Sweet Elena has turned you into a puppy."

"I'll ask you one more time, Katherine. Why did you have to ruin it?"

Not wanting to open up to him again, she kept her façade. No way in hell was she going to tell him that the principal reason behind what she did was that she thought he was at least enjoying her company as much as she did his, but instead, he was moping around about Elena.

"Like I told you, I was bored. You were going behind my back, hiding things from me, and since I didn't like your attitude, I decided to punish you." The indifference in her voice was noticeable, the fear already gone. He had his chance to kill her, but now she's certain that he can't risk disappointing Elena, killing another person in her name. She would never forgive him. Or maybe she would, who knows with Miss Compassion Gilbert.

Closing his fist in anger, Damon starts to raise his voice again. "What I do is none of your business. The fact that you acted this way just proves that you will never change. You are still the same selfish bitch who enjoys making everyone miserable so you can give a meaning to your lonely and pathetic life, which is the reason you're gonna spend the rest of your days alone, without a single person who gives a damn about you."

Different emotions flickering on her face, she manages to cover them up in seconds, looking at Damon with only hatred, and even knowing that he is a better man now, she wants to use his own fears and inner demons against him, the reason behind her next words, "Says the guy who still thinks that being a carbon copy of Stefan can erase all the bad things he has done in the past, that he will keep doing because, deep down, he's a monster. You can pretend all what you want, Damon, and even if you've changed, for the worst I might add, the essence of who you are is still there. You and I both know it. And you are afraid that when Elena realizes this one day, she will dump you and go back to your brother's arms." Still angry, she can see that she's hit a nerve, to her absolute satisfaction.

Clutching the couch with force, wishing it was Katherine's neck instead, Damon is on the brink of a spiral. He's furious with her. He knows what it feels to be loved by Elena Gilbert, and he has no doubts of her love for him anymore. But sometimes, he can't help that his mind goes back to a dark place, where Elena could stop loving him one day, when she realizes that he's not worthy of that love, and the thought alone terrifies him. And now, hearing Katherine voice one of his biggest fears, it's enough to send him over the edge. Only that this time, he doesn't want the bitch to know how much it hurt him to hear what she said. Instead, he wants to hurt her the same way, or worse.

"Now I'm convinced you never loved anyone in your life, more than yourself. All the things you said about you loving me? Lies. Someone like you is not capable of experiencing human feelings like love. Now I'm not sure if you even loved your own daughter, Nadia." At the name of Nadia, Katherine flinched. He can see the pain in her eyes. He knows he's going too far, but he doesn't care. She brought this on herself. "Your daughter found you after years, and instead of spending your time with her, building any salvageable mother-daughter relationship, you were following Stefan like a shadow, acting like a hormonal teenager. If you really loved her like you wanted her to believe, you would've wanted to spend every minute of the day with her after she came back to you."

After seeing that his words are causing the desired effect, he continues, "I could bet anything you didn't even love your own parents, sure didn't show it by leaving them at Klaus' mercy." Coming closer to her, "You knew Klaus wouldn't be happy with you. You knew he was dangerous, but you didn't care, because you only care about yourself," he spat.

Katherine is now staring at him, without saying a word, the pain visible in her form. He's now seeing the most vulnerable version of her, but he's too damn pissed to care. In one single day, she destroyed one of the few things that were actually helping him not lose his mind completely in this wasteland, and as if that was not enough, she used his darkest thoughts to hurt him, like the bitch she is. He was tired of her, and now he wanted her to disappear.

"I want you gone by the time I get back." And with that, he was out of the house, leaving Katherine behind, not noticing the tears that threatened to escape from her teary eyes.

* * *

Three weeks. It's been three weeks, and Damon hasn't seen Katherine since that fight they had, of course, he meant everything he said that day and he doesn't regret going straight for blood, because the bitch deserved it after what she did. However, he can't shake that annoying little voice telling him to go find her, just in case something happened. They hadn't fully explored the whole town, and for all he knew, they might not be the only ones; at this point in his life, after seeing witches, werewolves and hybrids, he wouldn't be surprised if there were demons there, too, that would explain the whole "hell" concept. He tried to shake that annoying voice and distract himself by listening to some music. Ah, yes, Nirvana would do the trick, and personally, Damon thought they were overrated, but he couldn't deny Kurt Cobain had written some real stuff.

By the time he had gotten to Smashing Pumpkins, he couldn't shut that damn voice in his head up. With a grunt, he turned off the CD player and took his jacket to go out. Guess he would have to go look for the bitch. Good thing is that he was a vampire. He could very well just make sure she was safe and come back to the house without ever being seen or heard, ah yes, the perks of being a vampire.

Four hours he spent looking for the bitch all around town, and he couldn't find her anywhere. He had detected her scent at the grocery store, then at the grill, and then again at some fancy big house, but she was nowhere to be found. Damon sighed and decided it was enough caring time for today. He would try to look for her tomorrow, and afterall, it was Christmas Eve.

Christmas had been his and Stefan's favorite holiday when they were kids; Casa Salvatore used to turn into a paradise this time of the year. Even his father was in better spirits, or maybe it was the fact that his parents came to stay with them. Damon had never felt more loved by his family than when his grandparents came to visit; his grandmother was more like his father, strict, but always treated Damon well. His grandfather, however, was his hero when he was a young boy, always telling him war stories, always teaching him magic tricks, and what mostly mattered to him, always gave him a kind smile whenever he called his name, instead of the familiar scold he was accustomed to from his father. Sadly, his grandparents passed away when he was still a child, and although Christmas was never the same without them, his parents put a lot of effort into making the holidays as special for the boys as they were when their family was complete.

Damon found himself smiling when he remembered the special recipe for turkey his mother made every year. His father always bitched that turkey was only for Thanksgiving, but his mother would just shake her head and start cutting the food in pieces. Stefan was the joy of the house, with his innocence and excitement; he would always be the first one to wake up and check if it was snowing outside, and if it was, he would go to his big brother's room to wake him up, so they could play outside together. Suddenly, Damon snapped out of his thoughts when he realized he had made his way back to the Boarding House, and it was then that a familiar scent hit him. Katherine. Seemed like Miss Pierce had finally come back. He debated whether he would make his presence known or just leave her be, and in the end, the desire to at least have someone to bitch at was stronger, so he walked toward where her smell was coming from, the basement.

There she was, Katherine Pierce in all her faded glory, wearing an old pair of jeans that fit too loose on her figure. Her hair looked like it had been the arena for a cat fight, and he thought that if he looked closer, he'd be able to see a little dirt on her right cheek; she was a mess.

Katherine had been staying at an old fancy house she found a couple of blocks away, and she had been making weekly visits to the grocery store, and of course, the frozen meals were back; she still hadn't learned to cook. She was also sleeping in a bed that was too big for her; it felt… _lonely_. She spent most of her time trying to antagonize Damon, because well…They're Damon and Katherine, and that's what they do. Yet, she never gave any thought to just how lonely she would feel without hearing his horrible humming in the mornings while he cooked, the way he rolled the "e" on his tongue whenever he said her name or even the way he moped around several corners of the house, like the fireplace, his bedroom, the foyer and the basement, no doubt moping over his dear Elena and longing for her company, instead of hers. She had started marking the days on a calendar she found, so that morning, she realized it was Christmas Eve. When Katherine was human, it was the time of the year she cherished the most. Before her indiscretion with Nadia's father, Katherine had been the apple of her father's eye. Every Christmas, he would take her with him on a trip he made to the nearest village to get whatever they needed for their dinner, and he would always get her something. The last time she remembered he had gotten her a beautiful hair pin with some beautiful stones in it; so yes, Katherine loved Christmas even now, because it reminded her of a time when she was happy, and even if her family was gone and she had no one to celebrate with, she would always cherish those memories, memories no one could take away from her.

Attacked by that nostalgia, Katherine somehow found herself back in the Boarding House as soon as she saw Damon had left. She just needed to see something that would remind her of happier times, surely that would give her the strength to go on with this lonely life she had condemned herself to live. She went downstairs, to the basement where she knew the Christmas ornaments and stuff would be stored. How did she know this? She just followed logic, strongly doubting Damon would keep these things in his room, and Stefan was messier, but he wouldn't keep a dancing Santa Claus hidden in his. She had carefully searched for the boxes that had what she was looking for, and when she finally found them, she pulled them from an old closet, getting herself covered with dirt in the process. She muttered a curse word and sat on the ground, next to the box.

She started taking out all kinds of Christmas items, from Christmas colored lights, to Santa porcelain figures and all kinds of Christmas ornaments. Katherine wondered how long these things had been sitting still in that box, and the answer was probably since Damon and Stefan's human relatives lived there. She found herself taking out an angel ornament, and a smile made its way to her face; angels were her mother's favorite. When she was a child, her mother had made one herself, and it was what they put above the chimney they had every year. Her mother used to say it was a symbol of goodness and that someone was looking after their family. Immersed in her thoughts and blasts from the pasts is how Damon found her.

He made his way to her and noticed she was so captivated by the angel she had found in a box that she didn't even notice his presence. He decided it was time to make his presence known, so he cleared his throat.

"Did you come here to forcefully take me out of your house?" She asked bitterly.

"No," he simply responded. He was far too tired to fight with her, and it was Christmas Eve afterall, he thought with an inner bitterness that he tried not to show. Where was the so-called God in this universe if he had to spend this day with Katherine Pierce and not with his brother, Elena and hell, even all her friends? With an audible sigh, he took a blanket that he found and put it on the floor so he could sit in front of Katherine. "Look, I'm still furious about what you did, but since today is Christmas Eve and I'm feeling generous, we can pretend that we like each other's company, at least for today and tomorrow," he said with a smirk.

Katherine rolls her eyes, but despite herself, she does let out a little smile, with a shake of her head. "Fair enough. It's a deal then, Salvatore."

"Then, we can go back to how we work best. You being a selfish, annoying bitch, and I…"

Before he continued, Katherine interrupted him, "And you being an arrogant bastard."

Damon suppressed a chuckle, and then they were in silence again. Katherine still lost in her thoughts, playing with the delicate ornament in her hands.

"You know, when you said earlier how I didn't love my own family, how I was the one to blame for the massacre they suffered," her voice trailed off, "you only said what I've been telling myself my whole life, Damon; not a day goes by that I don't wonder what would've happened if I hadn't been the doppelganger or if Klaus had never found me. Would I have been married? How many more years would my parents have lived? Those are the questions that I run away from, every day. I don't let my past catch up to me, and I don't let myself feel it, because if I do, I am afraid I won't be able to close the door again and you…Damon Salvatore," she muttered, "You managed to make me feel it all in a day. You brought me to the darkest corners of my mind I never dare to explore…"

"If you're waiting for an apology…" Damon interrupted her, and Katherine rolled her eyes and jumped in, as well.

"Let me finish," She said with a finality that made Damon shut his mouth. "You've always been able to do that, Damon; your love was overwhelming and all-consuming. You asked everything from me, you wanted to know every part of me, even the darkest corners I hadn't even come to peace with. That's the difference between you and Stefan; he never asked for more than I could give him, always the kind and patient one, but you? You were a tornado just waiting to swallow me whole." She took a deep breath, "I don't get swallowed, Damon. I am not on that receiving end. I am not the victim; I am the predator. It was never supposed to happen like this. You weren't supposed to make me want you more than you wanted me, and yet, it happened…The truth is I never let myself be loved by you because I was afraid. All my life I've been running from love, and here we are now, together in a prison world, a scenario I never thought could possibly happen: you not loving me, you completely and irrevocably in love with another girl, my carbon copy, no less," she murmured with that characteristic tone of snark back in her voice. "So, no, Damon. I am not waiting for an apology, because what I did was…" She struggled with the words her pride wouldn't allow her to say out loud, and then she started getting impatient, showing it by the way her eye started twitching.

"Yes?" Damon asked her, holding back a laugh. He was really enjoying seeing the great Katherine Pierce struggling to apologize, and he never thought he'd see the day.

"It wasn't okay of me to do it, okay? Happy?" She exclaimed in her very Katherine way, and Damon could only chuckle.

"It'll do, for now…So, what are you doing here?"

She promised to not be vulnerable ever again in front of Damon, and here she was. First talking to him about her darkest thoughts of what it meant for her family that she ran way, at the expense of their lives, and then the difference about her feelings between the two brothers. But since it was a special night, she could give it at least a try and open up to him, even if it was the last time she would allow herself to do that. Reluctantly, she let out a sigh and said, "I was feeling nostalgic about my family and wanted to see something that could remind me of better times, when everything was so easy and I still had my loved ones to spend the holidays with."

Taken aback by her response, Damon nods and motions her to continue.

"Those were the days. Before my own family disowned me and sent me to England, I used to spend a very happy Christmas day with them, Damon. Back then, I still had people who loved me, and I didn't feel as lonely as I've felt every day after my family was taken away from me. We didn't make special things like other families, but the love and the laughs were never amiss at our home. My father used to take me with him to buy the dinner we would have for Christmas Eve, and when we were back at home, I was at one side of the kitchen helping my mom prepare round bread, where we would hide a coin. The member of the family who found it in their piece of cake would have good luck for the entire year, according to tradition. At the other side, my father prepared some other ingredients. We were a great team, and on those occasions, I always had the brightest smile on my face, thanking God for having the best family I could ever ask for," said Katherine with a dreamy look and genuine smile on her face. "After the dinner was ready, we would all sit at the table to eat and share some stories, simply have a good time. I was always the one who found the coin," Katherine chuckled. "The day when it was time to share presents, my parents would wake me by tickling me and giving me hugs and kisses, before they surprised me with some little present they bought or made for me. I was too smart for my age, and I never bought the history about some old, fat man giving presents around the world." Both of them laughing, Damon imagined a little smartass girl, and Katherine remembered with nostalgia happier times.

"Ahh, the good old times that will never be back."

"Nostalgia is a bitch, isn't it?" said Damon. He used to have a very good time with his family, too. It was his and Stefan's favorite time of the year. And now he had Elena to spend this time, too. Feeling as if someone ripped his heart out of his chest, he remembers with nostalgia the first Christmas of many, he would make sure of that, that he spent with Elena. With a sad smile, he recollected her attempts to make him kiss her under the mistletoe, but at that time, he was trying to do the right thing, thinking that her love for him was not real, and he couldn't give her what she wanted, foolishly. In that moment, he promised to himself that he would make it up to her. After he was out of this place, he was going to kiss her under the mistletoe every year for the rest of their lives.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, he comes back to reality after hearing Katherine's question.

"So…how about yours?"

"How about my what?" he asked back, knowing exactly what she was asking for.

"Come on, Damon. I shared my past. It's only fair if you can do the same in return."

Letting out an exasperated growl in frustration, he decides to share a little part about himself. After all, this talk about her family made him remember the good times he had of his own, as well.

"I lived great moments with my family, too. At first, my grandparents spent the holidays with us, until they passed away. Then, it was just my parents, Stefan and me. My father was less of an asshole during those days, and my mom, always taking care of our happiness and the harmony in the family, and Stefan, always the excited little kid who enjoyed Christmas too much. He used to wake me when it started to snow so we could spend the day playing outside, both of us making snowballs and throwing them at each other. Then I would go inside to help my mom with the dinner. She was the one who made me love the kitchen in the first place. Unlike in your family with the round bread, my mom started with the tradition of preparing turkey, even if it was not Thanksgiving. Our family dinner consisted of my father being polite enough to let us share our stories, mostly about Stefan. We used to decorate a tree, too. My brother, trying to help, would make a mess, and I taught him the right places where the ornaments would make the tree look better. Our mom doing her part, watching us with lovely eyes, and smiling to herself." Damon usually didn't visit the place in his mind where all these memories with his family were buried, but it felt good talking about them, remembering with love how things used to be.

After revisiting their past, the silence filled the basement again, both of them lost in their thoughts. Katherine was still playing with the angel ornament when Damon asked her, "What's so special about that angel?"

"Angels were my mom's favorite. She used to make a figure like this one that she would put on the chimney every year. It just reminds me of her. I only have an old book about the Petrova line that Elena gave to me once in exchange for information about Klaus, where there's a drawing of my parents. It was the only thing I had about them. And now that I'm here, stuck in this place, this angel is the only thing close to my mom that I have."

"So, maybe now you can understand how much the video recording meant to me, one of the things that made me feel closer to Elena." Damon can't help but remind her, why they are here in the first place, the resentment still noticeable in his voice, trying to remind himself about the deal they have.

"I didn't know."

"Well, now you do," said Damon with a firm voice.

Determining that the bonding session was about to be over, Katherine tried to change the subject, giving him the box she had over her lap all this time. "Want to give a look? Maybe you can find something interesting."

Seeing that she was at least trying, Damon takes the box out of her hands and starts to check old Christmas ornaments that he remembers from the times he helped his mom decorate the tree, with Stefan's help, of course. He was in a better mood once again, with the memories from his past warming his heart. The little smile he had widens when a little figure catches his attention. It's a little soldier that Stefan gave to him once.

"What's so special about that little toy soldier?" Katherine asks him after seeing the change in his expression.

"That's for me to know and for you to dot dot dot," replied Damon, with a devious smirk, making Katherine give him a hard look. "Kidding, kidding. It's something that I thought was lost forever, and it's found again. Stefan gave it to me one day when father came home with some toys for him and nothing for me, since I was always giving him a headache, according to his words. So Stefan, being sad that I was left with nothing, offered me this soldier, and with his little voice told me, 'Here, take my soldier, so you can always have a part of me with you,' and then he hugged me."

Katherine smiled at him. "Seems like we had a great past and really happy times with our loved ones. Something we have in common." Then remembering his harsh words, she continues, "I did love my parents, Damon. Now you know that even if I can be a bitch, there was a time when I wasn't like this. There was a time when I felt loved by my family, and I did love them in return. There was a happier time in my life when I had everything. And there was a time, too, when I had a daughter whom I loved, only for her to be taken away from me the same day she was born. I couldn't even hold her in my arms, and then she was gone. The day she found me was one of the happiest days of my life, after searching for her so many years."

Damon nods, making it clear that he understands.

Standing on her feet, Katherine makes a face of disgust after seeing how dirty her clothes are.

"You are a mess, you know?" said Damon with amusement, standing on his feet, too, setting the box above a table and keeping the toy soldier in his pocket.

"I was way worse when you found me in your room for the first time. I spent several months here alone, almost a year to be exact, with no one to talk, all hope of getting out of here gone, which is why you found me like that in the bathtub. I tried to take my life," she admitted to Damon, surprising him with her last statement. The fact that Katherine Pierce, the Queen of Survival, had lost her strength to survive said a lot about how this place was driving her insane.

"I didn't know that" were the only words that came from his mouth. It was rare that he didn't know what to say. "Just so you know, that kind of action is the way out for cowards, and as far as I know, you are not, your survival always being your top priority and all."

Trying to change the subject once again, and noticing another thing in the box, Katherine took a little mistletoe that was calling her attention. Coming closer to him, she puts the mistletoe between them, with a playful smile.

"Nice try, Katherine. But you know that my heart belongs to Elena."

She shrugged her shoulders. "I had to try." Smiling at him, she says, "And believe me, I know." Remembering the kiss he gave her once on her cheek, while thinking she was Elena, Katherine is the one who gives him a sweet and soft kiss on the cheek now, mirroring that moment on the porch.

"Merry Christmas, Damon," and with that, she goes upstairs.

The next day, something happens that warms her cold heart. There's an angel ornament placed on the chimney of the Salvatore's house.

* * *

 **This fic is a gift to a very dear friend, Luke. He's one of the most talented writer, an amazing human being, and a great friend who have a special place in our heart. We know how much you like Datherine, and how much you'd enjoy to read a story with Damon being trapped in 1994 with Katherine instead. Seeing how much potential TVD wasted with a SL like that, we wanted to write it for you. In hopes to make your holidays a special time, this is our Merry Christmas present for you. Again we tried our best.**

 **Att: Steph & Caro**


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